1 Corinthians

“Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.” 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 In this concluding chapter of First Corinthians, Paul continues to answer the Corinthians’ questions by addressing their inquiry regarding the offering for the…

As I grew up, one of my favorite radio commentators was Paul Harvey. I can remember coming home from school and entering the house, my mom had the radio station on and we would sit down and listen to his news broadcast. My favorite was when he would do “the rest of the story”! Here he would start off by giving the story (typically of a famous person) and would leave out key elements such as names. When the program…

“Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.” 1Corinthians 14:1-4 In a small village…

It is the one thing a human soul needs most. It is perhaps the most overused and least understood word in our language. I am speaking, of course, of love. In our culture, we speak of it all the time but we throw the word and the concept around very cheaply. I love hamburgers. I love the mountains. I love my wife. I love God (hopefully not in equal measure). It is an ever-present theme of songs, poems, books and…

Today’s Bible reading is 1 Cor. 12. It’s all about the active work of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, eternally existent and active in the earth, especially in the lives of believers in Jesus Christ. In fact, he comforts, guides, teaches, sanctifies, empowers, gifts, and ministers through believers. He is active in creation, redemption, and carrying out the purposes of God on the earth.…

In his recent book, Return to Order, John Horvat pictures a young man who is wearing a pair of jeans with holes in the knees. It seems the young man has deliberately bought them that way. It’s funny to me, because I recall my own kids having a conversation with their grandmother about trying to get her to purchase jeans with holes already in them, and her utter amazement and exasperation that anyone would want them that way when you…

“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (I Cor. 10:11). All of the instruction Paul gives to the church at Corinth in this chapter is taken from the Old Testament. Drawing from its rich history, he makes parallels between the story of the Exodus and the subsequent wilderness wanderings and the Christian life. Paul is indeed right to do so for…

Don’t you realize that those who work in the temple get their meals from the offerings brought to the temple? And those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrificial offerings. In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it. Yet I have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that I want to start now.…

Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge. This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. 1 Cor. 8:1-3 I love the fact Paul wasn’t shy about getting down to the root of the problem. In 1 Corinthians, he is taking the opportunity to bring correction to a church…

One Christian theologian called the book of First Corinthians an interpreter’s nightmare – and chapter seven is one of the most difficult chapters in the entire New Testament to understand. There are several reasons why this is true. First, Paul says his remarks are in response to “matters about which you wrote”. As Pastor Kelly pointed out in a previous blog, we are only hearing one side of the conversation, which makes it very difficult to accurately interpret what Paul’s…